Vortex of Worlds
by SailorJuri5
Summary: Who are these children and what are they doing on Amarant's world? And what happened to Freya? I'm bad at summeries. Crossover between... a lot of different things. Just read, please...
1. Chapter 1

Freya shot Amarant a planning glance as she leaped from the back of the ferocious dragon they currently engaged in battle. Amarant nodded and planted his feet. Although he knew she needed no help in her jump, she none the less asked him to give her a boost in some of their larger battles. She yanked her spear from the foundering dragon's neck and dashed in Amarant's direction. Amarant launched her into the air when her furry foot made contact with his woven fingers.

He then closed his fist noticing the slipping strap on his Kaizer knuckles. That would just make the remainder of the battle a challenge, although the dragon was already nearly dead. A dying roar erupted from the dragon. Amarant smiled, more experience was coming his way.

Suddenly the whole world began to shake. Amarant stumbled and nearly fell over. This earthquake was the worst he had ever seen, easily worse than the earquakes that seemed to constantly wrack the Earth Shrine they had visited only weeks earlier. He suddenly feared they had angered some earth spirit that decided to lash out at them. But why here? Why now?

The dragon growled one more time before dying and disappearing. Freya wouldn't have had to do another jump attack after all.

The ground continued to shake for another good whole minute before subsiding.

Amarant straightened himself out then looked up to the sky, searching wildly for Freya. She should have landed by now. What happened to her? "Freya!" He yelled. What was he hoping to accomplish anyway? If he couldn't see her, what are the odds she could hear him? He none the less yelled again, then again. Tears threatened to tug at the edges of his eyes as slight panic set in.

A shrill cry erupted from the sky and seemed to come closer with each passing second. It certainly wasn't Freya but it didn't sound like a monster either. Amarant cleared his eyes and prepared himself in case it was a monster. The yelling continued and the source in the sky began to take on a vaguely human shape. He took a few steps back, getting out of the way of the now obviously falling human's trajectory.

After a moment, a boy, seemingly no older than sixteen or seventeen, fell out of the sky, landing with a loud thud on the ground just a few feet away. "Oh, Jesus Christ!" The boy said, slowly bringing himself to his feet. A loud 'Crack!' came from his back as he straightened himself out. "I'm going to be feeling that in the morning." He said finally turning to Amarant.

The boy had black hair that spiked out in every direction from his head. His skin was very dark, darker than Amarant had ever seen on a human. He had no obvious weapons and seemed to scrawny to be an unarmed fighter leading Amarant to the conclusion he wasn't much of a threat.

"Hey, there." The boy said after a moment.

Amarant sighed, crossing his arms.

"Who're you?" The boy continued.

"I could ask you the same thing." Amarant said taking a more relaxed posture.

"Hey, I asked you first."

"I'm not in the business of giving out my name."

"You act like I'm charging you for it. But I'm Brock." He started looking around, although there wasn't much to look at in the open field where they stood. "Where are we anyway?"

"Near Dali." Amarant answered.

"I've never heard of it. Is it in Johto or something?"

"What's Johto?"

Suddenly five blue lights dropped out of the sky landing between Amarant and Brock. They almost seemed like weights with pure energy strings attached. "What's that?" Brock asked after a second.

Amarant's eyes followed the strings up into the sky where he way a black clad figure decending rapidly. "You might want to take a step back." Amarant said taking his own advice and taking a few steps back.

"Why do you say that?" Brock asked.

Suddenly a pair of sandal clad feet met with Brock's back, knocking him flat on his face. A boy wearing all black with a kind of silly looking kitty hat fell gracefully out of the sky, doing a little flip before landing on Brock and retracting the blue strings back into his hand. This boy, who looked to be about fifteen or sixteen, looked very different than Brock. He had rather pale skin, although purple make up covered most of his face. Also, he wore fingerless gloves and thick sandals so almost all of his skin was covered. Two odd bandage wrapped figures were slung across his back. This boy, like Brock, seemed unarmed and was too scrawny to be a fist-fighter, so Amarant relaxed figuring his threat level to be minimal.

"Hey, this isn't Konoha." The guy said, looking around.

"Umm." Amarant mumbled pointing down at Brock.

"Oops, sorry, mister." The boy said stepping off Brock's back.

"I'll be fine," Brock said, another loud 'Crack!' coming from his back as he stood up. "Well, once I get the feeling back in my spine."

"Wait," Amarant said, "Mister? You mean you two don't know each other?"

Brock and the boy looked at each other. "I've never seen him before in my life." Brock said.

"Who are you anyway?" Amarant asked, looking at the boy.

The boy grinned. "I'm Kankuro, jounin level ninja from the Hidden Sand Village." He said, tapping on the metal plate on the front of his cowl.

"I've never heard of it." Brock said.

"How could you have never heard of it? It's the capitol of the Wind Country."

"Relax, I've never heard of it either." Amarant added. He crossed his arms and sighed. "Something weird is going on here. Why did you guys fall out of the sky?"

Kankuro and Brock both looked at each other and shrugged.

"What were you doing before you came here?"

"I was traveling alone back to Pewter City." Brock said. "There was this earthquake and I fell over. But rather than falling down, I kinda fell… up."

"The same thing happened to me, except I was on a mission with Tenten." Kankuro said.

"Oh, gods, I need to go home." Brock said, concern heavy on his voice.

Kankuro and Amarant both looked over at him.

"Whatever it is that happened to us could have easily happened to anyone, right? What if my brothers and sister got separated? They must all be so scared."

Kankuro looked away. "Temari… Gaara…"

Brock looked over at Amarant. "So how do we get back?"

"Can't help you, kid." Amarant answered.

"What? You're from here, you must know how things work."

"I'm not exactly what you might call academic, kid, I don't know very much."

Brock sighed. "D you know where I might be able to find someone who does?"

Amarant crossed his arms and thought for a moment. "Dr. Tot might know something."

"Great. Where can I find him?"

"In Treno probably."

"Can you take me there?"

Amarant let out a breath of a laugh. "Sure, but not for free."

"All I have is a cred stick." Brock said, pulling a small rectangle of plastic out of his pocket.

"I have only Konoha currency." Kankuro said pulling a handful of coins out of his pocket.

Amarant took one of the coins and studied it closely. "I've never seen coinage like this before." He shrugged. "But it is silver genuine enough." He emptied the contents of Kankuro's hand into his own. "This should get you to Treno."

Brock turned to Kankuro. "Thanks, I owe you one."

So this is my first entry on this site, I hope you all liked it (not that I expect anyone to read it). I felt the character's introductions seemed a little rushed but, I wanted to hurry and get to the action.

I know this is one of those stories that everyone (or at least freaks like me) imagine writing but no one actually does. I did, as much of a bad idea as I know it is. Right now, my main characters (for those of you who don't know) are Amarant from Final Fantasy IX, Brock from Pokemon, and Kankuro from Naruto. Eventually I plan on adding at least one more due to the total lack of estrogen in this story. They'll be visiting at least half a dozen different worlds and meeting multitudes of different characters, if anyone has any suggestions, I'm willing to listen.

I'm not sure if it's some kind of a requirement for me to say it or something, but I'll say it anyway... I do not own any of these characters or worlds, they are the intellectual property of their respective owners and not of me. There, I've done my share of stating the obvious for the day, I'm going to bed...


	2. Chapter 2

Amarant looked over the adolescent boys in front of him. "And you guys will need some weapons, you can't expect me to do all the fighting."

Kankuro grinned. "Got it covered." He said motioning to the figures on his back.

"I'm a Pokemon trainer, not a fighter. I don't have any weapons." Brock said.

"We'd have to stop in Dali anyway." Amarant said beginning to wander away.

"So here are your options." Amarant said pulling a long, fabric wrapped bundle out of the bag of holding on his belt and laying it on one of the beds of the Dali hotel. After only a few miles, and thankfully no really strong monsters, they made it to the city of Dali. So Amarant decided to take the chance to get Brock some equipment.

Brock slowly unfurled the bundle to reveal an entire arsenal of weapons. "Where'd you get all these from?" He asked.

"They belong to my friends." Amarant answered.

Brock sighed. He had said numerous times that he wasn't a fighter and that he had no idea what he was doing. But Amarant was very insistent that he help in the fighting arena at least a little. So he figured he might as well give it a chance, all he really needed was a good weapon, right?

First in line was a beautifully crafted ivory staff. It looked too fragile for combat so Brock immediately put it back down. He then picked up a set of two daggers. They looked OK but h was looking for something with a little more damage potential. A heavy looking broad sword caught his attention but it was too clumsy and bulky for his liking so he put it back down. "What is this?" He asked picking up an odd oversized wooden net on a long stick.

"It's a racket," Amarant answered, "I think it's a magic booster, both Eiko and Garnet used it. It's not very good offensively though."

"That's all I need to know." Brock said putting it back down. He picked up an oversized metal fork that was next in line. But he immediately put it back down. "I don't think so." He commented as his hand just passed over the wooden flute that laid in the pile. All that was left was a copy of Amarant's own tiger claws and a long wooden handled javelin. He frowned.

"Something wrong?" Amarant asked.

"I don't know." Brock said picking up the javelin. "None of these feel right."

"It sounds like you're just making excuses."

Brock flicked the spear a couple times. "Do you mind if I break this?"

"Break it?"

Before he could actually answer, Brock pressed the metal end to the ground and broke it off at the base of the wooden shaft with his foot. "Much better." He said gripping it like a bow staff.

"You need some weapons too?" Amarant asked, turning to Kankuro.

"How many times do I have to tell you, I've got it covered." Kankuro said laying those wrapped figures on one of the open beds.

"Whatever." Amarant said crossing his arms. "You want to try that out?" He asked Brock.

"Yeah, sure" Brock said following the already leaving Amarant.

"I've never fought before so go easy on me." Brock said as Amarant took his seemingly practiced battle-ready posture. He had taken Brock to a field right outside the city to help him practice. But Brock had the feeling he was about to get his ass kicked.

"Going easy means your opponent is weak." Amarant said, smiling.

"Maybe I'm not weak, but I am inexperienced."

"Well, let's change that." Amarant said charging at him.

Brock brought up his staff to stop Amarant's tiger claws about an inch in front of his face.

"Fighting isn't just about defence." Amarant said swinging his claws around aiming for Brock's side.

Brock brought the end of his staff down to block it but thrust the other end forward to strike Amarant on the head causing him to stumble back.

Amarant smirked. "Now that's what I'm talking about!" He said as he flew at him again.

Brock dodged aside, tripping Amarant with his staff as he passed.

As he got up, Amarant got knocked back against something surprisingly hard. Brock's staff slipped across Amarant's chest, restraining his arms down and locking him back against Brock's body. "Nice tactic." Amarant said smiling, "But you forgot one thing."

"What's that?" Brock asked.

"Your weapon is made of wood."

Suddenly, Brock's staff broke causing him to stumble back. Amarant had somehow brought his claws up and sliced right through Brock's staff. He immediately turned around to make another attack. "Holy crap!" Brock yelled jumping back.

Amarant brought up his massive clawed hand to strike him.

But Brock brought up the stick in his left hand to parry him. "Yeah, but now you've given me an extra arm to do this." He then used the stick in his right hand to hit Amarant square on his knee.

Amarant roared in pain and buckled to the side. He then glared through the mop of red dreadlocks he had for hair at Brock the brought up his gargantuan left hand and backhanded him.

Brock flew a good six feet before skidding to a painful halt on his side.

Amarant quickly regained his balance and rushed at Brock.

Brock flipped onto his back, planting both his feet right into Amarant's stomach as he rushed him, flipping him over. A loud grunt excaped Amarant as he landed flat on his back. Brock tried to stand up, to scuttle away, but his legs collapsed from under him.

Amarant effortlessly stood up. He brought up his claws to make an attack on the prone Brock.

Brock brought up his arms to cover his head. But the blow he was expecting never fell, all he heard was the sickening sound of splintering wood.

At the last second, a tall, freaky-looking wooden figure slipped between Brock and Amarant, blocking his attack. It looked vaguely human but very different at the same time. Three eyes rather than two sat above a very wide mouth on a loosely screwed jaw. An extra set of arms sat below the normal set and each were broken into at least half a dozen parts by crude ball-and-socket joints. An ugly, brown, tattered cloak that matched the mop of brown hair on his head hung lazily over his shoulders. "What is this?!" Amarant yelled.

"You don't want to kill Brock, do you?" A voice off to the side asked.

They both looked over to the side to see Kankuro with one out stretched arm. A blue light extended from each of his fingertips for about a foot toward the obstructing dummy. Amarant pried his claws out of the puppet's chest and glared at Kankuro. "Whatever." He said marching off angrily.

Brock shakily stood up.

"Are you OK?" Kankuro asked, wandering over and checking his puppet.

"I'm fine, I think I just pulled something." Brock said.

Kankuro looked over at him. "I wasn't talking to you but that's good."

Brock face faulted. When he recovered, he looked over to see Kankuro whispering to the doll and inspecting its injury. "What is that thing?"

"Oh, this is Kurasu." Kankuro said, twitching his fingers and making those same blue light strings appear from his fingertips. As the strings activated, the dummy flared to life. And with each movement of Kankuro's fingers, Kurasu moved also. Kurasu turned to Brock and offered his hand for a shake.

"Umm, nice to meet you, Kurasu." Brock said, hesitantly shaking the marionette's hand.

Kurasu again turned toKankuro who began checking him over. "Oh, man, I'm going to have to replace his chest plate."

"So this is the weapon you were taking about?"

"Yeah, him and Kuraori." Kankuro said motioning vaguely to the remaining bandage wrapped figure on his back.

"That's weird. How does it work?"

"I control them with strings made of my chakra."

"So that's what those blue lights are?"

Kankuro nodded.

Brock bent down to pick up his sticks but was met with sharpmpain from his legs. "Oh, man, I'm going to be sore tomorrow."

"Are you alright?"

"I'll be fine, I think I should go back to the hotel though."

"That's probably a good idea. I'll go with you." Kankuro said, throwing Kurasu over his shoulder.

* * *

So there you have it, chapter 2. Hopefully from here the chapters will start getting longer seeing as my semester has finally come to a close. Although I suppose I can count all the people out there who care on one hand... without using any fingers.


	3. Chapter 3

"Is Amarant back yet?" Brock asked the guy behind the counter of the inn where they were staying.

"That big guy you were with?" The guy asked sleepily.

Brock nodded.

"I haven't seen him since he left with you."

Brock sighed.

"Relax, he's probably just upset." Kankuro said walking toward their room. "Give him a few hours, he'll be back."

"Yeah, you're right." Brock turned to the dozing desk clerk, "Do you have a kitchen I can use? I think I'm going to make some dinner."

Kankuro's ears perked up and he came rushing back to Brock's side. "Dinner?"

"There's a stove there you're welcome to use." The nearly sleeping attendant answered motioning to an iron fire stove in the corner.

"Thanks, buddy." He turned to Kankuro. "So what do you like?"

"Hambergers are my favorite." Kankuro answered.

"You got it." Brock said walking over to the stove.

Kankuro took a seat on a chair next to the stove as Brock quickly got to work. He layed Kurasu across his lap, not hesitating in pulling off his cloak then prying open his chest cavity with a screwdriver he generated from his pocket.

"That's an odd weapon you have," Brock said, "It kinda freaks me out."

"Well, intimidation is part of the game." Kankuro said matter-of-factly.

"How did you pick a weapon like that anyway?"

"Well, my sister fights with a giant fan, I felt I needed to one-up her."

"You have a sister?" Brock asked, seemingly very interested.

Kankuro pulled back slightly. "Yeah, her name is Temari."

"You worried about her?"

"Not really." Kankuro answered fiddling with part of Kurasu's metal skeleton. "She's tough and charismatic enough that she'll be OK no matter where she ends up. It's my brother I'm worried about."

"You have a brother too?"

"Yeah, his name is Gaara."

"What's wrong with him?"

"He's very mentally unbalanced; he may be the Kazekage, but if he meets someone who rubs him the wrong way, he'll kill them."

Brock started. "Kill them?! And this guy is your brother?"

Kankuro nodded casually.

Brock slowly turned back to the stove, making a mental note to avoid this Gaara person.

"Do you have any family?"

"Yep, I'm the oldest of eleven."

Kankuro started. "Eleven children?!"

Brock nodded.

"And I thought I had a big family."

"So are you the oldest?"

"No, I'm in the middle, Temari is older, Gaara is younger."

"I hope we find them somewhere, this sister of yours sounds nice." Brock said smiling widely.

Kankuro just rolled his eyes and continued his work.

Brock slowly opened his eyes, rousing from his light sleep. He had learned at a young age that being able to wake at the drop of a hat was a very handy tactic with so many little ones to look after. He swung his legs over the edge of the bed, sitting up and surveying the room. Kankuro layed sprawled out over his bed with bits of wood and metal shavings, gears, knives, and various mechanical devices splayed all over him, the bed, and the floor around him. Pieces for his puppet no doubt. But he snored quietly and contently as if not even realizing a deadly weapon was sharing the bed with him.

He wandered silently over to Kankuro's bedside, gently removing all the debris from the sheets and setting Kurasu's dismantled parts neatly on the floor. He then pulled the blanket up over Kankuro, realizing as he did that the sleepy boy had neglected to remove his hat and make up. 'That's going to stain the pillow case I bet.' Brock thought to himself as he removed Kankuro's hat and set it on the bedside table. 'Good thing I won't need to clean it.' He then turned to return to his bed but stopped. "Don't you need any sleep tonight?"

"I really only need a few hours per night," Amarant's voice floated across the room, "Sometimes not even that."

Brock turned around to see Amarant sitting lazily on the window sill. "Very nice."

"Here." He held out what appeared to be two sheathed swords to Brock.

"Where are these?" He asked taking them from Amarant's hand.

"Short swords." Amarant shrugged, "You seemed more adept with the sticks than you did with the staff."

"Umm, thanks." Brock said as he drew one of the swords. It wasn't anything really remarkable, but it still looked expensive. "Why get these for me?"

"I did almost kill you. It's bad for business to let a customer die let alone kill him."

"So are you a professional tour guide?" Brock asked leaning on the window sill next to Amarant.

"No, more like a mercenary."

"So you just do a little bit of everything, huh? Sounds like fun."

Amarant didn't say anything.

"You part of a guild or something?"

"No, although I was for a little while. It's just not my style."

"So do you have a partner or anything?"

"Not usually. Although recently I've been traveling with a Dragon Knight named Freya. She does about half the work so I give her half the salary."

"She, huh?" Brock said suggestively, "She your girlfriend?"

"You have the wrong idea." Amarant said seemingly trying to hide his face under his hair.

"Oh, do I? Then you won't mind if I ask her out when we meet her."

"You stay away from her." Amarant snapped.

Brock gave him a suggestive look.

Amarant sighed. "OK, so she's my girlfriend."

Brock smiled, "So what's she like?"

"She's a Burmecian Dragon Knight who has saved me more times than I can count. But she's a little self-conscious about her tail."

"Tail?"

"Yeah, she's a Burmecian."

"That means absolutely nothing to me."

Amarant sighed. "A rat person."

"Rat person? You certainly have a one bizarre world here, Amarant."

"You may think that but it's the only world I've ever know so I don't think it's bizarre."

"I suppose." Brock flipped the sword he realized he was still holding. "I hope I won't suck too bad."

"You haven't taken you hand off yet so you're better than some others I've seen."

"Maybe so but you two seem to have sent your entire lives training to become warriors. I spent the fires fifteen years of my life changing diapers."

Amarant didn't say anything.

"So where is this place we're going to?" Brock asked after a moment of silence.

"West and a little bit north of here. If we can make it to South Gate we should be able to get a lift there."

"How far is it?"

"A days traveling. And you should get a full night's sleep for it."

"You're probably right." He put the sword back in its sheath. "But the same goes for you."

"You worry about you."

"Rule one of the mercenary, huh? Well, I'll see you tomorrow." Brock said returning to his bed to rest.

* * *

Wow, here we are, chapter three is finally here, sorry for the hold up. I realized how long things are going, even as I'm writing. I mean, I've taken up nearly a whole notebook already and I'm not even off the second world. Fun things to say just keep hitting me. I'll try to make chapters longer so maybe the story won't seem so unnecessarily long. Oh, well, hopefully the next one won't take me so long to post... 


	4. Chapter 4

"So you know this city?" Kankuro asked as the three travelers entered the city of Treno.

"I think I was born here." Amarant answered.

"You think?" Brock asked.

"I didn't become aware of myself until I was about ten years old and this city was the first thing I remember."

Kankuro and Brock just glanced at each other.

"Dr. Tot's tower is this way." Amarant said turning to walk away. "Oh, and watch out, there are a lot of thieves around here."

"You're telling me." Kankuro said with a smile, tucking away a small leather bag he didn't seem to have a moment ago.

"Real mature, Kankuro." Brock chided.

"You call it immaturity, I call it quick learning."

"Not quick enough though." Amarant said holding up that same leather bag.

Kankuro checked where he had put it only to find his pocket empty. "Hey, how'd you do that?"

Amarant only smirked as he tossed it back to Kankuro. "Come on, we shouldn't keep Dr. Tot waiting." He began walking away.

"Now don't change the subject, tell me how you did that!" Kankuro yelled, running after him.

Brock shrugged and trotted along behind.

"So any other bright ideas?" Kankuro asked, leaning back on the gate of the tower Amarant insisted was the residence of the master of all on this world, Dr. Tot. But the door and gate were locked, all the lights turned off, and otherwise seemingly vacant.

"I don't know where else he could be." Amarant said, pounding the gate with his massive hand, denting the metal.

"Relax, Amarant, maybe he's just out for lunch." Brock said, trying to clear the air.

"It looks like he hasn't been her in a while." Kankuro said, motioning to some rather dusty cobwebs between the gate and the door.

Amarant sighed. "I have some connections I need to contact; you two stay out of trouble until I get back." With that, he walked away.

"Wonderful, now what do we do?" Kankuro asked.

"I wonder what people do in this city for fun?" Brock wondered out loud.

"What?" Kankuro asked incredulously.

"Wouldn't it be fun to find an open market or a fighting tournament or something?"

Kankuro smiled, "That does sound like fun."

"Then lets go."

"Have you ever considered trying throwing weapons?" Kankuro asked picking up a throwing knife from the local weapon shop counter where they stopped to get equipment.

"I only started thinking about fighting at all yesterday." Brock said.

"It has its merits, but I can't throw strait to save my live." He grinned awkwardly.

Brock took the knife from Kankuro's hand. It was well balanced, the thin handle was about as long as the blade and had a circular counterbalance on the opposite end that had a hole in it. Although it was probably meant for thrown attacks, it seemed it would be effective for melee combat as well. He flipped it in his hand so he was holding it underhanded. Very light and easily concealable, maybe he would have to start carrying one just in case.

"Hey, mister, how much does this kunai cost?" Kankuro yelled, trying to get the attention of the shopkeeper who had yet to make him self seen.

"All daggers are 450 gil." The gray jacket-clad young man said coming out of the back room.

"Shino? What are you doing here?" Kankuro asked the boy.

"I could ask you the same thing." The man said emotionlessly, tucking his hands into his pockets.

"I take it you two know each other?" Brock asked.

"Yeah." Kankuro answered simply.

As Brock inspected the man, he noticed a metal plate on the headband he wore to keep his dark hair in a poof on top of his head. It was the same style as the metal plate on Kankuro's hat, except it had a different symbol. "Hey, why are they different? The symbols?" He asked looking back and forth between their respective head gear.

"I'm from Konoha." The boy answered.

Brock looked confused.

Kankuro sighed. "Whe you become a ninja, they give you a head guard with the emblem of the city on it. I'm from Sand, he's from Leaf."

"I can see how that could symbolize a leaf, but how does that symbolize sand?" He asked, pointing at Kankuro's hat.

"It's an hour glass."

"Really? It doesn't look much like one."

"Can we focus here?!" Kankuro yelled, silencing Brock. "Shino," He turned to the boy behind the counter, "Do you know how you got here?"

Shino shrugged. "I don't know, but I'm here now so what does it matter?"

"It matters a lot! Don't you want to get home?"

"Not particularly."

Kankuro started. "What?"

"I like it better here. The world seems bigger, like there's more to see. It's not that I don't want to go home, it's just that I would rather stay here."

He sighed. "Well, that's not very helpful!"

"I won't apologize; it's my life to live."

"Don't worry, we're not angry." Brock said.

"We? Speak for yourself." Kankuro snapped.

"But I will say," Shino continued, "You should seek out a man named Roy Mustang."

"Who's he?" Kankuro asked.

"We landed in this place together but he decided not to stay in town. He said he was a general in the military, he even showed me some of his Alchemy."

"Alchemy? What's that?" Brock asked.

"You mean you don't know what it is?" Kankuro asked.

"Why am I expected to know about every thing you don't?"

"No, that means there's more worlds thrown into the mix than just our world," He motioned to himself and Shino, "Wherever the hell you're from, and… wherever the hell we are."

"Eloquint." Brock commented sarcastically.

"Shut up, you know what I mean!"

"Where are you from?" Shino asked, looking at Brock.

"I'm from Pewter City in the Kanto Region." Brock answered.

"But what world is it?"

"… Now that I think about it, the world itself doesn't really have a name."

Kankuro and Shino glanced at each other.

"It's a world filled with Pokemon."

"What's a Pokemon?" Kankuro asked.

Suddenly a loud buzzing cut through the air, silencing the three boys. A giant insect, a bee only about three feet long from head to stinger, with seemingly sharp, cyndrical needles on it's front legs came flying over. Although it looked heavy, it landed on Shino's head without so much as disturbing a single hair.

"What is that?" Kankuro asked, backing off slightly and reaching for something in his pocket.

"It's a Pokemon." Brock said, stepping the obviously firhgtened Kankuro and the dangerous looking insect. "A Beedrill to be precise."

"I thought you said it was a Pokemon."

"Pokemon is a broad term used to describe these animals that roam my world." He turned to Shino. "Where did you find him?"

"Out in the woods while I was training." Shino answered, reaching up and stroking one of it's drills. "He's just as scared as anyone would be falling into an unfamiliar world."

"Well, he seems to have taken quite a shine to you." Brock said, opening one of the pockets on his vest and pulling out a small zip-lock bag filled with small, green cubes. "Usually Beedrills are really violent and anti-social." He continued, feeding a couple of the cubes to the oversized insect.

The bug ate the cubes and buzzed happily.

"So it's not going to attack?" Kankuro asked.

"Not unless Shino tells it to." Brock said.

Kankuro sighed with relief, putting away the bug spray can he generated from his weapons pouch.

The bug leaned foreward, looking Shino in the eyes. It buzzed and pointed it's stingers in one direction. "It started already?" Shino asked the Beedrill.

"What started already?" Kankuro asked.

"There's a sort of fight club among some of the mercenaries in town. It's mostly for gambling and status among guilds. But one of the local mercenaries asked me to come."

"Are you going?"

A small smile tugged at the corner of the stoic boy's mouth. "I wouldn't miss it."

"Do you mind if we come too?" Brock asked.

"I don't care." He said as the Beedrill took off from his head.

Kankuro and Brock both shrugged and followed Shino as he climbed the ladder to the exit.

* * *

OK, so it's been a while since an update, what can I say? Life got in the way. But the next chapter should be comming up shortly and we'll finally get to see some action!

I haven't been to horribly out of character with these guys, have I? I'm the most worried about Kankuro. Silly and stoic seriousness (aka Brock and Amarant) I think I can do OK, but Kankuro has a different kind of seriousness to him. If I'm doing to horribly, you'd tell me, right::Cricket::Cricket::Tumbleweed::

Oh, well, until next time, I guess...


	5. Chapter 5

The three young boys walked in silence through a dimly lit underground passage that ran along the river that fed the lake in the centre of the city. They could hear yelling and grunting coming from strait ahead, a sigh they were headed in the right direction.

"So, there's going to be some tough opponents down here, huh?" Brock asked, seemingly nervous.

"Of course," Kankuro said, smiling, "Maybe I'll find someone here worthy of using both Kurasu and Kuraori."

"So you two will take most of the fighting, right?"

"Oh, come on, Brock, the entire point of us coming down here is so you can get some practice. Don't worry, I won't shove you into a battle I don't think you'll win."

"But you do plan on shoving me into a battle?" Brock asked, nervousness now obvious in his posture.

"You lost your first battle, you're zero for one. We need to fix your track record." Kankuro said with a smirk.

Brock sighed. Kankuro had a point, he blew his first fight. Although Amarant had lost his cool and hit a little harder than he probably should have. But in Brock's own defense, he had gotten Amarant to the level where he did lose his cool, that had to be worth something. Regardless, he was a part of this team now, Kankuro knew it, Amarant knew it, so he needed to start pulling his weight. Amarant was in the right mind to beat the hell out of him the first day, but Kankuro was also right to save him. He may be a ball of cookie dough now, but he had the potential to be carved out of wood.

As the boys approached the back of the up roaring crowd, a small explosion emanated from the fighting ring. Both Brock and Kankuro got up on their tiptoes to see. "What's going on?" Kankuro asked.

"This lady is insane," Someone at the edge of the spectators answered, "She says she'll fight anyone willing to take her on."

"And she keeps winning!" Another spectator added.

The boys pushed their way to the front just in time to see the charred, beat up carcass of the last contender come flying at high speed strait towards them, landing at their feet with a painful thud. A couple guys from the crowd rushed up to him, picking him up and helping him away.

"Isn't there anyone in this city that can take a beating?!" The woman in the ring yelled, smiling broadly.

"Do you still reserve the right to shove me into a battle, Kankuro?" Brock asked, a strange smile spreading across his face.

"Of course I do." Kankuro answered.

"Well, then I reserve the right to do this." He reached out and gingerly shoved Kankuro into the fighting ring.

Kankuro stumbled forward a few steps but quickly regained his balance.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," The scrawny woman in front of him laughed, her long red hair bouncing with every chuckle. "I have to fight a clown?"

"I'm not a clown." Kankuro said.

"They why are you wearing all that make up?"

"It's not make up, its ceremonial kabuki paint."

"Well, that doesn't change the fact you look like a clown."

He glared at her for a few seconds before turning back to Brock. "I'll forgive you this time," He said, removing the bandage wrapped Kuraori from his back and laying it on the ground at the edge of the ring, "But only because she attacked the paint. If it were any other case, I'd kill you."

"Fair enough." Brock said with a smile.

"Just as Kankuro turned to the woman, she was already on top of him brandishing a sword. But he managed to pull a kunai out of his modest weapons pouch in time to block her string of furious attacks. Clang, clang, clang. He very skillfully parried all her attacks but was unable to make any attacks of his own.

"You're pretty good with that thing," The woman said, "There aren't many people who can hold off the mighty Lina Inverse even with a regular sword."

"Who is Lina Inverse?" Kankuro asked.

"Me!" She yelled, throwing herself at him.

He dodged aside, allowing her to tumble unceremoniously to her hands and knees. "Don't feel bad, not many people can hit me either." He said, leaning slightly over her.

Her arm flew back at a funny angle as she made a wild swing at him. A short scream escaped him as her sword got him right across the face. He stumbled back, his hands coming up to his face as he turned away from her. "I didn't want to hurt you, kid," She said, picking herself up off the ground, "But that's what you get for thinking you could take me on." It was then she noticed the blood she expected to see dripping from between his fingers wasn't blood at all, it was… sand. "The hell?!" Was all she managed to say as Kankuro's head cranked around with a horrible clacking noise. Half his face was now gone, peeled away to reveal a second wooden face below it. "What kind of trick is this?!"

A set of spindly wooden arms suddenly burst out from Kankuro's sides, two of the now four wooden hands grabbed Lina's sword. "It's not really a trick." Kankuro's voice came from the bandage wrapped figure on the dummy's back. All the bandages loosened with a tug of Kankuro's hand and he jumped out, doing a little flip before landing gracefully a few yards away. Strange blue lights emanated from each of his fingertips and extended in a thin blue line a few feet towards Kurasu who now stood in all his wooden and fully-armed glory still holding Lina's sword. "It's the most basic jutsu in the book." He continued, twitching his fingers to make one of Kurasu's many arms lash out at Lina.

She twisted her sword in it's hands, throwing it off balance just enough for the obviously poisoned dagger it it's wrist to miss her head. "Oh, so that's the way you want to play it, huh?" She closed her eyes, her right hand coming to rest on Kurasu's chest. "Source of all power, crimson fire burning bright," She opened her eyes, "Flare Arrow!" A beam of flaming energy about two feet long went strait through Kurasu's wooden and metal chest and streaked towards Kankuro.

Kankuro pulled his arm across his chest, pulling the now fully revealed Kuraori to block the blast.

"Hey, that's not fair, it's three against one!" Lina protested, prying her sword out of Kurasu's hands.

"They're just tools," Kankuro said matter-of-factly, stepping past Kuraori, "It's just like using two swords.

"That's some rather twisted logic." She said, dodging a barrage of needles Kurasu shot out of his wrist.

"Fine, Kuraori won't move for the rest of the fight." Kankuro said, leaping into the air with only the slightest movement of his feet. He gracefully flew through the air, twisting himself in midair to land facing Lina and still well out of harm's way.

"Well, I can do that too. Grey Wing!" A short burst of wind blasted Lina up into the air before she took flight, hovering about twenty feet above the ground for a moment before she began charging the ninja boy, a spell forming in her hands.

Kankuro released Kurasu, one hand reaching up and attaching two strings to Lina, one to her ankle and one around her waist. As much as she struggled against it, she couldn't break his hold on her as he flailed her around the room. While he did that, he other hand reached out toward Kuraori, expanding its torso to at least double its size and opening its front. As the crown boomed, Kankuro brought Lina crashing into Kuraori's now open chest, closing the door on her.

"What the hell?! You said you weren't going to use this one!" She yelled, pounding on the walls.

"I said she wouldn't move, I didn't say I wouldn't use her." Kankuro said, sauntering over and leaning on Kuraori. "Just say you're defeated and I'll let you out."

Suddenly, a loud BOOM! Came from inside Kuraori, bursts of red hot energy shooting out of the several narrow slots on its sides, causing it to shake a little but not break. Lina coughed from inside. "I think I'm done."

"Did you just set off a spell in there?" He tried to peer through one of the slots.

"… No."

He laughed. "You did, didn't you?"

"Shut up…"

He laughing continued as he twitched his fingers, opening Kuraori's chest.

The now charred, smoldering Lina came slumping out of the barrel-shaped puppet and layed still on the floor for a moment. "Usually wood burns when hit with a fire ball." She commented.

"Well, Kuraori is special." He smiled, reaching out his hand to help her up.

She turned up her nose and pulled herself to her feet.

"Move aside, people, it's my turn!" A boy about 16 or 17 with a long, grey trench coat and military cut golden blonde hair stepped into the ring. "And take your dollies with you."

"They're not dolls, they're marionettes." Kankuro said, throwing Kurasu over his shoulder. He continued muttering to himself as he grabbed Kuraori by the back of it's neck and dragging them out of the ring.

"Doesn't anyone want to fight me?" The boy in the ring asked after a minuet.

As Kankuro reached the edge of the ring where Shino and Brock waited, without a word he shoved Brock forward into the ring. Brock stumbled a ways before falling flat on his face. "What the hell, Kankuro!" Brock yelled, getting up.

"Here's your fight, Brock, good luck." Kankuro said with a glare.

"Wonderful, I have to fight a kid who can't even keep his balance?" The boy asked, shrugging casually. "Oh, well, better give the crowd what they want." He then pulled a long, wide blade with a black, angled handle that reminded Brock of a gun's handle out of his coat and pointed it a Brock. "Ready to rumble, kiddo?"

Brock adjusted his swords, one at his waist, and the other across his back, and took an acceptable fighting stance. "Why are you calling me kid, I've got to be at least as old as you?"

"How old are you?"

"17."

"Wow, you are as old as me." He said lowering his blade and rushing Brock, making an upward sweeping attack at him. Brock parried it with the sword in his left hand and leapt aside. "By the way, my name is Seifer." He continued, making a high spinning attack to close the distance between them.

Brock ducked under his blade and dodged out of the way, reaching into his pocket for Onix's pokeball. "What does your name matter?"

"So you can say it upon your defeat." In his hand, he charged up some sort of fire spell and launched it at Brock. Brock abandoned his search for the monstrous pokemon and crossed his swords in an attempt to block the blast. The fire was mostly diffused, singeing only the very front of his vest, but the blast sent him flying back. This guy sure wasn't following any formality Brock was used to, he wasn't giving him time to draw his pokemon. But then again, this guy Seifer was from a different world, he probably didn't know anything about pokemon battles, let alone pokemon ettiquite. OK, change of strategy…

"Well, in that case," Brock said, pulling himself to his feet, "My name is Brock." He then dashed toward Seifer, ready to get this fight started following his rules. He slashed his left sword toward Seifer's side which he blocked easily with his gunblade. Seifer was then forced to jump up to avoid the low sweep with Brock's right sword. Continuing the momentum on his right sword, he swung his arm around and attempted to get him in the head, but he once again brought up his gunblade to block him. Seeing a momentary weak spot, Brock brought up his left arm and smacked Seifer in the side of the head with the broad side of his sword, smashing his head against his own gunblade. Taking advantage of Seifer's disorientation, Brock dropped the weapon in his right hand and punched him right in the face, sending him reeling back.

Seifer slowly reached up his gloved hand and wiped away a drop of blood that now trickled from his lip. He smiled, it had been a while since someone actually made him bleed. "I was really hoping I wouldn't have to use this," He said holding his hand strait up out in front of him, seeming to charge up some kind of blast, "But you've pushed me too far." His hand twitched back a little bit and he immediately disappeared.

The temperature had suddenly turned very cold, Brock's breath condensing into a fine mist in front of his face. Giant ice crystals suddenly shot up out of the ground, nearly throwing Brock off his feet. 'This isn't good.' He thought to himself as he pulled a pokeball out of one of the pockets on his vest. As one final ice crystal formed, this one with the figure of a woman inside it, rose out of the ground, Brock opened the pokeball, a bean of energy coming out and forming into a small, red dog with seven tails. The woman shattered her ice prison with a simple flex of her slender arms and looked at Brock. As she charged up some kind of spell, Brock looked down at the dog. "Fire Spin, Vulpix!" He commanded.

The dog let out a high pitched squeal and nodded. It took a deep breath and exhaled a giant plume of fire at the ice woman. Flames surrounded her in a giant fiery tornado, melting all the ice she hand formed. After a moment, the woman herself melted and disappeared.

Seifer reappeared completely dumbfounded. "How could you!? You killed my favorite GF!" He pointed his gunblade at him. "You're going down for that."

"Follow my lead, Vulpix, and prepare of tackle." Brock said to the little dog who squealed in affirmation. He dashed foreward, sword drawn, ready to attack. But Vulpix leapt up off his shoulder and covered Seifer's face. Seifer cursed and tried to pry her off, but Brock ran around behind him, bashing him in the back of the head with the butt of his sword.

Seifer gasped and slowly fell foreward, unconscious.

Brock immediately knelt down next to him, checking his pulse. He was alive; he would just wake up with a bit of a headache. His lost sword collected, he stood up, the whole crowd roared. Apparently they liked his fight. He sheathed his swords, picking up Vulpix before returning to where Kankuro and Shim stood as a couple of the mercenaries collected Seifer's corpse.

"Nice work, I'm impressed." Shino said as he approached.

"What is that?" Kankuro asked, pointing at the dog thing in Brock's arms.

"Vulpix, another kind of pokemon." Brock answered.

Kankuro's eyes strayed over to the Beedrill who sat patiently perched on one of the walls of the underground resovoir.

"Yes, that's a pokemon too. There are over 150 kinds."

"And I suppose you have them all memorized."

"I'd like to think so."

"So you're a nerd." Kankuro asked with a smile, crossing his arms.

Brock sighed, Vulpix squealing confusedly at him. "I prefer to be called scholarly."

"Geeky?"

Brock glared at him.

"Is this brawl going to last long?" A deep voice coming up from the side asked. The three boys all looked over to see Amarant approaching. "'Cause I want to get out of here soon."

"So you found him?" Kankuro asked.

Amarant nodded. "He's still on the planet, but he left town. We missed him by a couple days."

"Who are you looking for?" Shino asked.

"A guy named Dr. Tot." Kankuro answered.

"I could have told you that."

Everybody looked at him.

"He's the scholar guy with the big nose, right? He was here a couple daysago but he bought a couple kunais from me and took off, down a tunnel in his tower I think he said."

"Damn it, I forgot about Gargan Roo." Amarant cursed.

"What?" Brock asked.

"Tot has an underground passage under his house that connects to both Lindblum and Alexandria."

"Do you know which one he went to?"

"He could have gone to either." Amarant crossed his arms.

"I still think you should go find Mr. Mustang." Shino interrupted. "He told me several pieces of information I'm sure you guys will find invaluable."

"Like what?" Kankuro asked.

"You should go ask him, I don't remember all the details. But it concerned his jump to this planet."

"Fine, where did he go?"

"He said he was heading to the political centre of the world."

Brock and Kankuro both looked over at Amarant expectantly.

"That would probably be Alexandria." Amarant answered.

"Well, then, lets go." Kankuro said.

"Are you sure you don't want to come, Shino?" Brock asked, turning to Shino.

Shino nodded. "My adventure is just beginning, and I want it to be here."

Brock nodded. "You keep this world safe. If it gets destroyed, you'll have to face Amarant's wrath." He said with a light chuckle.

Shino just turned back toward the fighting ring. "Oh, and if you see Ino, tell her I'm sorry." He said as they walked away.

Kankuro gingerly jumped off the intricately carved wooden car suspended under the gargant, as Amarant called it. Really it was just a dolled up insect. Although he would never tell anyone, he hated insects, they scared him as a child and forced his hand in a fight against Shino a couple years ago. Now he didn't go anywhere with a can of bug spray in his weapon pouch and at least one bug bomb loaded up in Kurasu. "Can we get out of here?" He asked.

"What? Don't like the gargant?" Brock asked, reaching up a sprig of vegetation to feed the insect. It buzzed happily and ate the grass.

He sneered at the bug but shook his head. "No, its more riding that thing for two hours all the while being followed."

"Followed? What are you talking about?"

"You might as well come out, lady, we know you're there." Amarant said, turning his head as if talking to a phantom behind him.

A short, slender woman with long red hair suddenly flew up from the depression the gargant was suspended over and landed gracefully a few yards away. She crossed her arms and glared at Kankuro. "How'd you know I was here?" She asked.

He smiled coyly. "I'm a trained ninja, how many employers do you think I could honestly get if I couldn't tell I was being followed?"

"Well, whatever you are, that was the most crushing defeat since I last fought my sister. So you're not getting out of my sight until I defeat you."

"You're a little out of your league, lady." He said turning away. "Why don't you go back to your mercenary buddies in Treno where you belong."

Her fists clenched in fury, her face turning bright red.

"Look, calm down," Brock said, stepping between them, "I'm sure he doesn't mean that. Right, Kankuro?"

"I'd be glad to fight you again when you're more on my level, so come back in about ten years."

She raised her arm, pointing her open hand at him. "Fireball!"

With a slight movement of his hand, Kuraori unfurled from her wrapping and caught the fire ball inside her barrel chest, diffusing it with only a burst of heat.

"I hate that thing!" She yelled, pulling her sword and rushing the marionette. But as she struck it, only a loud 'Clang!' was her answer, not even causing one splinter to fall from the pristine puppet.

"She's made of ironwood, you'll need more than that dinky sword to destroy her."

Pissed that he still wouldn't even turn to look at her, she lowered her head. "Darkness beyond twilight, crimson beyond blood that flows," A black and red ball of energy formed in her hand.

Suddenly a hand easily the size of her waist grabbed onto her forearm, forcing her to stop her spell. Now there was a tall, angry, red-headed man leering down at her in such a way that made her want to cower. "That won't be necessary." Amarant said.

"Look, if you're so hell bent on defeating Kankuro, why don't you come with us?" Brock asked, stepping up next to her. "It seems you'll probably end up following us anyway."

She glared at Kankuro, who stood now wrapping Kuraori again in her bandages, still with that annoying smile on his face. "Fine, but I reserve the right to challenge you at any time."

"Whatever you say." Kankuro said, slinging Kuraori over his shoulder. "So, where to from here?"

"Just up the stairs." Amarant said, releasing her arm from beginning his trek up the intimidating tower of stairs.

"Come on," Brock said taking a few steps foreward, "It's Lina, right?"

She sighed. "Yeah," she said, following him up the stairs.

* * *

One hell of a chapter, huh? But I wanted to get both Brock and Kankuro's fight scenes done and I had to add Lina's joining scene because there was no way that it would fit at the beginning of the next chapter. But by the end of the next chapter, our heroes will finally leave Gaia behind and move onto the next world! Exciting, huh?


	6. Chapter 6

"Amarant!" The slight woman on the throne yelled happily, leaping up from her seat. "'Tis wonderful to see a familiar face." She continued, throwing her arms around him even though she barely came up to the giant man's chest.

Brock's jaw dropped. This woman, who appeared about twenty, with shoulder length jet black hair, glided gracefully in her floor length white gown. Her deep, dark eyes sparkled like endless pools as she smiled up at Amarant. She had to be the most beautiful woman he had ever seen! "You certainly are a beautiful lady!" He said, stepping between Amarant and the angel incarnate and grabbing her hand. "And you sure know how to keep good company. You must be pretty high up on the chain to live in the palace-"

"Damn right, she's the queen." Amarant said.

"And she's married." The sole guard in the room said stepping foreward. The guard wore a solid blue outfit that differed greatly from the full plate armor all the other palace guards around wore. And physically he didn't even look like he belonged on this world, with his dark hair and sloping eyes.

"Married?" Brock asked, obviously disappointed. "I was going to ask you out but I guess I missed the boat on that one." He sighed and slinked pathetically back to where Kankuro and Lina stood laughing at him.

"You certainly have picked up some interesting companions, Amarant." The queen said turning to his friends.

"Yeah, I realized that." Amarant said, crossing his arms.

She smiled and stepped toward them, her guard carefully watching her. "I am Queen Garnet til Alexandros-Tribal, please tell me who you all are."

"My name is Kankuro, your Majesty." Kankuro said, stepping foreward and kissing her hand, "It certainly is a pleasure to meet you." He smiled sweetly.

"So charming." Garnet said.

Brock just sighed.

"Don't look so disappointed, Brock." Kankuro said smugly.

"Stuff it, OK?" Brock glared at the paint-wearing boy who laughed.

Garnet let out a giggle.

"Hey, queenie, how's it going?" Lina asked when Garnet turned to look at her.

"You certainly act casually toward royalty." She commented.

"One of my best friends is a princess."

"Oh, really?" She cocked her head to the side, "Of what country?"

"I'm not sure it's a good idea to be discussing other worlds with people we don't know." The guard said, stepping up next to Garnet.

"Do not worry, Col. Mustang, I know Amarant, and if he trusts them, then so do I."

"Wait," Kankuro interjected, looking at the guard, "Mustang? As in Roy?"

He nodded. "I'm Roy Mustang, why?"

"We were referred to you by a boy named Shino."

"That creepy bug guy? Why would he refer you to me?"

"He said you had some information we would find invaluable." Brock said.

"OK." Roy shrugged.

"Let's start at the beginning." Kankuro said, "Where are you from and how did you get here?"

He looked at Garnet who seemed to be curious herself. A heavy sigh escaped his lips, he hated getting this much attention. "I am from Central City on a planet called Earth. I was investigating the ruins that are buried under the city when an earthquake hit."

"Let me guess, you fell up?" Kankuro asked.

"No, the earthquake passed past and I was OK. But as I continued my investigation, a strange pearly, multi-colored glowing sphere formed in the cavern. I suppose I simply got too close and got sucked in."

"That's kinda bizarre." Brock commented.

"Why is that so valuable?" Lina asked, crossing her arms.

"I have come to some conclusions based on Col. Mustang's experiences." A short man with a big nose and a scholarly air said walking into the room.

"Who's the nerd?" Kankuro asked.

"This is Dr. Tot." Garnet answered, "And he is not a nerd." She turned to the man and smiled. "Please continue, Dr. Tot."

"Well, firstly, does anything about Col. Mustang's story ring any bells for you two?" He asked, glancing between Garnet and Amarant.

"Sounds like when we jumped to Terra." Amarant said.

"Exactly."

"But Kuja destroyed Terra." Garnet protested.

"But what if the processes were already in motion to merge Gaia with Terra?"

Garnet gasped, her dainty hand fluttering up to cover her mouth. Amarant clenched his fists and looked away.

"What is he talking about?" Lina asked.

"A planet named Terra was created before this one," Amarant explained, "But when that one fell into decline and was nearly destroyed, their last ditch effort to save it's people was to put them all to sleep and to create this world. And when this world reached a certain point of development, all the people of Terra would wake up and merge Terra with Gaia, destroying it in the process."

"That's the long and short of it." Dr. Tot said.

"But you said Terra was destroyed," Brock said, "So why are you worrying?"

"Judging by recent events," Dr. Tot said, beginning to pace around the room, "I have come to the conclusion that it never was Terra that was drawing in Gaia, it was Gaia that was drawing in Terra. But without Terra, Gaia has begun drawing in all other worlds around it. This may spell bad news, not only for this world, but for all of your worlds too."

A heavy silence fell over the room.

"What do you want us to do?" Brock finally broke the silence.

"Us?" Amarant asked, "Count me out." He turned and began walking to the exit.

"Wait a minute, Amarant!" Brock protested, stepping in front of him.

"I said I would take you to Treno and I took you all the way to Alexandria. My contract is up." He walked past Brock, pushing him aside in the process.

Amarant sat on top of the church tower outside the palace. It was the tower Vivi climbed to sneak into the palace when he ran into Tantalus. It was a place Freya liked to spend her time when she was in town. He knew it was a long shot, but he hoped he might find her here, or at least some evidence of where she might have gone. No such luck.

"I figured I'd find you here." A sweet voice behind him said.

Amarant didn't say anything.

Garnet sat delicately down next to him. Although he didn't look at her, he could see out of the corner of his eye she had changed into her old white shirt and orange pants, her adventuring clothes.

He still remained silent.

"I'm taking Mr. Kankuro, Mr. Brock, and Miss Lina to the Shimmering Islands." She said, knowing he wouldn't talk if she didn't start the conversation. Although, knowing him, possibly not even then.

"What will that prove?" He asked after a moment.

"I believe Dr. Tot when he says this whole mess has something to do with Terra. So we're going to investigate the way we got there before."

"Are you sure you're the one who should be going?"

"I really can't think of anyone else. Steiner and Zidane both disappeared after the earthquake, I can't get a hold of Quina, and this isn't the sort of quest anyone would ask of Eiko or Vivi. Who else is there?"

Amarant didn't answer. A sudden breeze caught his hair, momentarily blowing it out of his face. Garnet had never seen his full face before, and he actually looked quite handsome. But a deep frown creased his mouth and deep seeded concern flowed through his tranquil grey eyes.

"Something is bothering you." She stated.

He slowly rubbed his hand across an etching on one of the roof tiles.

Garnet looked down to see an 'FC' with two vines wrapped around it carved into the wood. Freya had told her once that was how Amarant and she kept in contact even when they weren't traveling together. They would carve their initials then add onto it each time they passed by. She remembered Freya telling her that she would usually add vines wrapping around it and Amarant would surround his with a cage, adding more bars with each visit. "Has she been here?"

"No." He answered simply.

"Are you worried about her?"

"I know she is perfectly capable of taking care of herself."

"That wasn't my question." She said firmly.

He glanced over at her and she regarded him steadily. He sighed. "It's more that I have no control over what's going on. She's somewhere unfamiliar and I have no way of contacting her. I know she's fine but-…" He stopped, looking away.

"Is it the feeling that there was something you could have done to prevent it?" Garnet asked, trying to complete what he seemed incapable of saying himself, "Or to protect him? At least something more you could have done so he'd still be here with you?"

"Dagger?" He used her old nickname from when they traveled together with Zidane.

"Half of my people have disappeared, you're the only one from our old troupe I've heard anything from, and my husband disappeared from right in front of me, whisked away into the sky. I haven't been able to sleep since it happened because I've been so worried." Her voice cracked as if wanting to cry, but her face registered no emotion; the mask of a true leader.

"Amarant slowly reached out one massive arm and gently wrapped it around her waist, pulling her close into a friendly hug. It wasn't something he would normally do, but it was something he felt she needed. And as he did it, he realized it was something he needed too.

She rested her head on his muscular shoulder, a single tear falling from her starry eyes.

"It'll be alright, Dagger."

She slowly looked up at him.

"I'll take them to the Shimmering Islands; you stay here and make sure Alexandria doesn't fall into anarchy."

"Thank you, Amarant."

Roy and Brock sat on a grassy hill watching Lina and Kankuro lock horns. The clashing of metal on metal and the explosions of fireballs could be heard all the way across the palace. "So what kind of world do you come from?" Brock asked, lounging back into the grass and staring up at the clouds as they floated lazily overhead. "Is it as peaceful as this place?"

"No, not really." Roy answered after a second.

"Well, you're in the military, right?"

Roy glanced over at him.

"They called you Colonel several times, I gathered from that. But if you're in the military, you're seeing a completely different picture than everyone else."

"I've still seen things that no person should ever have to see."

"Well, I guess any civil service job can do that to you."

"You guys want to give it a go?" Kankuro asked, now standing in front of them. Both is arms hung relaxed at his sides but a blue chakra string extended from each of his fingers toward the slightly singed Kurasu and the fully expanded but still pristine Kuraori.

"Where's Lina?" Roy asked, noting she was no where to be seen.

Kankuro twitched one of his fingers, opening up Kuraori to reveal a pouting Lina sitting cross-legged inside her barrel-shaped body. "You put up a good fight, Lina." He said suppressing a snicker. With another twitch of the hand, he leaned Kuraori foreward, sending Lina unceremoniously tumbling to the ground.

"I hate you." She said rubbing her sore bottom.

"What's you're big trauma?" Brock asked, standing up.

"That thing!" Lina bellowed, pointing an accusing finger at Kuraori. "My spells don't work on it!"

"What's the difference?" He asked, turning to Kankuro.

"Kurasu is made of cedar," Kankuro answered, picking Kurasu up and laying him in Brock's hands. He weighed a good thirty pounds and most of that was probably from his metal skeleton and apparently vast weapon arsenal. After a second, Kankuro took him away and replaced him with Kuraori which was so heavy it sent Brock plummeting to the floor with a loud curse. "Kuraori is made of Ironwood."

"Holy crap, how do you lift it?" Brock asked.

"I have to pump a lot of chakra into my muscles." He said, picking up his fallen marionette.

"Why do you make it out of ironwood?" Lina asked as Brock picked himself back up.

"Just for fights against people like you." Kankuro answered setting himself down on the hill. "I used to make her out of cedar too, but then my sister did a fireball jutsu inside and I was left with a pile of ash. Ironwood is really rare so repairs are a bitch, but at least now she doesn't need a metal skeleton."

"So, tell me more about your sister." Brock said with a grin, scooting closer to the young ninja boy.

"I know exactly what you want to know about my sister." He said, shoving him back.

Roy and Lina glanced at each other confusedly.

"So you two want to give it a go?" Kankuro asked, motioning to Brock and Roy.

"It's not that I'm not up for a good fight," Roy said with a smirk, "It's just that I don't want to kill you."

"How about if I back him up?" Garnet said running across the court yard to meet them, Amarant wandering along behind her.

"Your Majesty," Roy said, hopping up, "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Of course," Garnet said with a grin, pulling out an ivory rod, "I'm not as frail as you seem to think I am."

"No offence, your majesty, but I don't think I'll need any help." Brock said as he pulled two Pokeballs out of his vest pockets.

"If that's the way you feel." Roy said as he pulled a pair of white gloves out of his pocket and slipped them on. "I certainly hope you like pain."

"Actually I'm not terribly fond, but these two are used to it. Vulpix, Onix, go!" He threw the two orbs forward. When they struck the ground, they both popped open, blue energy pouring out and forming into a small, red dog-looking creature with seven tails and a massive rock snake easily eighty feet long.

Although maintaining a calm demeanor, Roy suddenly became concerned. "There is certainly more to you than it appears, Brock." He smiled and raised his hand out in front of him, "But the same has been said about me." A soft snap came from his fingers and suddenly a great plume of fire erupted from nowhere and surrounded Brock and his Pokemon.

Onix coiled up around his trainer, taking most of the blast for him but seemingly taking a lot of damage in the process. Once the air cleared, Brock stepped past his living defense barrier and glared at Roy. "So you want to see fire, huh? I'll show you fire." He turned his gaze to Vulpix. "Vulpix, Fire Spin, now!" The dog made a high pitched noise and nodded in affirmation before taking a deep breath and releasing an equally grand plume of fire at Col. Mustang.

But as the smoke cleared, Brock's look of entertainment faded as Mustang stood from where he apparently knelt down to cover himself without so much as a scratch on him. He regardless brushed dust off his shoulders and returned his gaze to the befuddled Pokemon trainer. "You don't know how my alchemy really works, do you?" He asked not really expecting an answer. "My alchemy isn't simply creating fire from nothing; it's actually manipulating the oxygen content of the air then introducing a spark with these carbon filament gloves. But just as easily as I can increase the oxygen content, I can reduce the oxygen content. I've got a perfect fire barrier, so hit me with your best shot, I dare you!"

Brock glared at Roy who stood smiling back. "If that's what you want. Rock Throw!" Rather than Vulpix expelling copious amounts of fire at the colonel, Onix dashed foreward with surprising speed and swung at him with his massive rocky tail.

Roy barely managed to throw himself out of the raging Pokemon's way. "I meant your best flame shot!" He said, hastily getting up and dodging another swing of Onix's tail.

"Well, then you should have been more specific. Vulpix, Fire Blast!"

Roy again raised his hands, placing his right hand on the back of his left to touch the transmutation circle there. He could feel the heat of Vulpix's fire blast before it even left her mouth. This would be a hard one. The blast was fairly short but the amount of flame and the pure heat behind it was immense. As the fire left her dainty mouth it formed into a tight five-pointed star easily seven feet tall and about two feet thick. He planted his feet firmly and took a deep breath, reducing the oxygen in front and all around him to nothing hoping that would extinguish the fire.

But the fire just ran into the front of his shield and started to push him rather than just going out. It must be some kind of magical fire that did not obey the same laws he was used to. Damn! He could not hold his breath much longer!

Just as he was about to release his shield to take a breath, a shiny pink and orange barrier raised up in front of him, dissolving Vulpix's Fire Blast. The barrier was very large, probably about eight feet tall and about the same across in a giant sphere all around him.

Once under the protection of this new barrier, Roy released his shield and dropped to his knees, gasping for air. He looked up at Brock only to see him, as well as his Pokemon, looking over to the side. Garnet stood with her staff held up in front of her, her other hand gently touching the top. "What was that?" Roy whispered.

Garnet grinned. "Wall." She said simply.

"Hey, whose side are you on?" Brock asked, turning to Garnet.

Garnet just grinned.

Brock sighed. This would be impossible if it was two against one, no matter how many of his Pokemon he pulled.

"Well, what would you have of me, Mr. Brock? My White Magic is at your command."

He slowly drew his swords. "Since you gave him some protection, how about giving me some speed?"

She brought up her staff and gently touched the top. "Haste." She whispered.

As the spell took effect, Brock's heart began to race, the world around him slowing to a crawl. Now that he thought about it, he had never had any magic cast on him. Maybe it was just this particular spell, but he suddenly felt really nauseous. Was this how all magic felt? Damn, he hoped he didn't lose his lunch. But even through the slow motion of everything around him, he could see Roy preparing some sort of attack. Best to get this over with.

With unnatural speed coursing through him Brock raced forward, accidentally barreling directly into Roy's shield. Brock stumbled back awkwardly, but under the influence of the spell, quickly regained his balance and began running around the barrier, occasionally thrashing it with his swords. Roy quickly realized his wall would not last long against Brock's onslaught. _Desperate times call for desperate measures._ He thought, taking a deep breath. As his transmutation took effect, the air tight around him fell to nothing, the air around that out to the edge of the barrier rising to almost pure oxygen. Brock continued his attacks none the wiser until he finally broke the barrier and was immediately met with a maelstrom of fire. But something snaked out and grabbed him out of the way before more than the front of his vest got singed.

Onix reached out his massive stony tail and grabbed his trainer around the waist, throwing him haphazardly out of the way. But the trauma on Brock's stomach did not agree with the side effect of the spell and as the Pokemon trainer came crashing to the ground, he immediately curled to his side and began throwing up his last meal.

Roy cautiously approached the wretching boy, his hand at the ready for another fire blast in case he tried anything, and knelt down to make sure he was OK. He gently touched Brock's shoulder and tried to turn him onto his back. But as he slumped back, he brought up his right arm to press his sword against Roy's neck. "You son of a bitch." Was all Roy managed to utter.

They stood like that for a good whole minute before Brock opened his mouth. "What would this be? A draw?"

"I'd call it a draw," Roy said, smiling, "but only because I don't want to call it a loss on my part."

"But you didn't lose." Brock said, slowly pulling himself up into a sitting position.

"Even if I had done another attack and incapacitated you, there is no way I would be able to defeat them." He glanced back at Onix and Vulpix who were drawing in closer to check on their beloved trainer.

"Well, congratulations, gentlemen." Garnet said, strolling over to the battle-damaged boys. Roy made a face of befuddlement as she gently grabbed his chin and turned his head to look at his neck. "It appears you got a little overzealous, Mr. Brock." She commented upon seeing the pools of blood falling from the small cut where Brock was holding his sword.

"Did I?" Brock asked, leaning up to get a better look. "Sorry."

"Do not worry, no permanent harm done." She brought up her staff. "Curaga." She chanted as a warm blue light flowed out and surrounded Roy, instantly healing all his injuries.

"I think he needs that more than I do." Roy said, motioning to the pale boy still lying pathetically on the ground.

Garnet looked down at him and smiled compassionately. "I am sorry, Mr. Brock, I should have warned you, the first time a spell like Haste is cast on person, it usually has some unpleasant side effects."

"I noticed." Brock grumbled, looking as if he was about to ralph again.

"So, Garnet, are we going to be sticking around long?" Kankuro asked as Garnet knelt down and cast some healing spells on Brock.

"I'll be taking you." Amarant stepped up.

"Change of heart?" Lina asked.

Amarant crossed his arms defensively. "Dagger is needed here."

"Who is Dagger?" Brock asked.

"How long will it take to warm up the airship?" Amarant asked, turning to Garnet.

"Half an hour." Garnet said, finishing up her healing spells.

"Then meet in the main hanger in half an hour." He said, walking away.

Lina stepped out of the cabin of the Alexandrian imperial airship the Red Rose and was met by a gust of salty sea air. Now they were whizzing over the massive ocean on their way to the Shimmering Islands. She wasn't even sure how she had gotten suckered into this mission anymore. Oh, yeah. She thought sourly upon seeing the black-clad ninja sitting on the deck with puppet parts spread randomly around him. He had delivered to her the most devastation loss she had ever experienced and had humiliated her horribly in the process. Even her sister Luna had the good graces to not embarrass her in front of a crowd. That was one of the many reasons she couldn't return to Treno, she didn't want to face all the local mercenaries reminding her that she had been thrown around like a rag doll, not until she could boast a victory over the boy who defeated her.

"Not right now, Lina." He said not looking up at her.

She didn't even realize she had walked over to him until he addressed her.

"I have too much work to do." He continued.

She shook herself out of her infuriating contemplation and glared at him. "Hey, I said I was going to challenge you whenever I wanted and you said OK."

He finally looked up at her. She immediately forgot what she was complaining about upon noticing his hat was missing and he had wiped off all his makeup. His light brown, red tinged hair spiked messily around his pale face. Green, cat-like eyes searched hers lazily and portrayed a kind of fatigue that almost made her want to back off right then and there. Without all that ninja stuff on he certainly looked more human, and if she were in any other position, she might even say he was fairly attractive. He sighed. "Kurasu is in rather disrepair since I last gave you a beating." She glared at him but he just continued. "Do you really want to have a victory you don't deserve because I'm not at my full power?"

"Yes." She answered unhesitating.

He let out a breath of a laugh. "Let me rephrase that. Won't your victory over me be all that much sweeter if you defeat me as an equal?"

She couldn't argue with that logic, it did feel better to beat someone more powerful than you.

"Besides," He said, continuing about his puppet repairs, "Do you really want to fight on an airship where there's always the possibility of either falling off or shaking the ship apart?"

She winced, she hadn't even thought of that. Death by falling off an airship and crashing into the water was not the sort of dramatic death she envisioned for herself.

"Why don't you go bother Brock for a little while?" He motioned over to where Brock stood bent over the railing, emptying what little contents were left of his stomach into the ocean.

She shot him one last glare before stomping over to Brock's side. She leaned back on the railing and looked over at Kankuro. "Can you believe that guy? Just blowing me off like that?"

Brock only wretched in response.

"Are you OK?" She asked turning her head to look at him.

"I am no good on transports." He said pathetically, "I get so motion sick. Oh, god!" He bent over and wretched again.

Lina rolled her eyes. "Heal." She said waving her hand over the head of the emaciated boy. "Feel better?"

Brock stood up and wiped his mouth on his sleeve. "You don't by any chance have a mint, do you?"

"'fraid not."

Brock only whimpered pathetically.

"I can't even stand it." Lina said stomping her foot, "He can just defeat me so easily! You know, where I'm from, I'm the strongest sorceress around, but he just keeps knocking me down. Urg! It's just not fair!"

"Relax, Lina." Brock said, trying to diffuse her temper before it reached a boiling point. "I've been watching your fighting since I first met you in Treno, you do seem to be improving."

"You really think so?" She glanced over at him.

He nodded. "Besides, I'm sure you have spells bigger than those fireballs you keep pitching at him."

"Yes, I do. But I don't want to kill him, I want him to be able to look up at me and say he's defeated. That would make me happy.

"You seem pretty caught up in this, Lina."

"So?" She crossed her arms and glared at him from across the deck.

"You're obsessed."

"And?"

"You know what they say about obsessing."

"What's that?"

"Obsessing leads to crushing."

Her arms dropped to her sides and she looked at him in shocked confusion but he just regarded her with a smile. "You're crazy. He is SO not my type. I mean, how can you respect a guy who wears more make up than you do? And just look at that ridiculous hat. And what is with that crest on his shirt? And what kind of man plays with dolls? And-"

"Lina?" He cut her off.

She looked up at him innocently. "What?"

He tapped her on the nose with his finger. "Listen to yourself." He smiled at her again before walking back inside the cabin, leaving her alone with him.

A slow blush spread across her face as she turned to look at Kankuro. He had apparently not heard a word of their conversation as his attention was focused solely on the wooden and metal parts in front of him. She sighed in relief but contemplated confronting him about it regardless. But just as she picked herself up to approach him, Amarant came dashing out of the cabin, nearly bowling into her in the process.

"There it is!" He announced, leaning over the railing and looking up the side of the ship.

"There's what?" Lina asked also leaning over the railing. A small string of snow-covered mountains jutted up out of the ocean in the distance. They seemed to glow with an odd, pearly sheen.

"The Shimmering Islands." He answered.

Within a matter of minutes, the four of them all found themselves on the deck of the airship staring down into what appeared to be a rainbow colored energy portal. "It's activated." Amarant muttered.

"What do you mean?" Kankuro asked.

"That's the same portal we jumped through when we went to Terra." Amarant explained. "It disappeared after Terra was destroyed. But now it's reopened." He sighed. "Dr. Tot was right. Well, let's go." He wandered up to the railing and put his foot up on it, as if poised to jump.

"What are you doing?!" Lina screeched.

"Exactly what you think." He said before launching himself over the edge and towards the open mouth of the portal below him.

"Hey, wait!" Brock yelled, jumping after him.

"So hasty." Kankuro said, meandering up to the railing and watching the two of them plummet toward the gateway. "Well, shall we?" He said, seemingly getting ready to jump.

"Kankuro?" Lina stopped him.

"Yeah?" He asked, stepping back from the edge and looking at her.

"Ummm…" She looked around nervously for a second before returning her gaze to him. "How old are you?"

"What?" He asked obviously confused.

"Now that I think about it, I don't know anything about you. I figure I might as well know something about the man I'm going to be defeating soon."

"Firstly, you wish." He said defiantly causing her to roll her eyes. Then he smiled and slipped his hat back on. "Secondly, I'm sixteen." She smiled as he turned back to the railing. "Come on, let's go." He said before leaping over.

Amarant's freefall slowed as he entered the energy portal but picked up again as the rainbow sheen faded away into the sky of a new world. As the ground drew near, he flipped himself over so he was falling feet first. Spending as much time as he did with a Dragon Knight taught him exactly how to take a fall from great height. "Thank you, Freya." He muttered to himself as his feet met with the rock ground, his legs cradling his fall perfectly. After standing up again, he looked up only to see Brock's flailing form approaching quickly. "You've got a lot to learn, Brock." He said after the newfound swordsman crashed at high speed into the ground.

"It's kind of hard to learn if no one is teaching me." Brock said picking himself up.

Amarant didn't respond, he only returned his gaze to the sky where he saw a black and a red dot descending rapidly. Kankuro reached his arm forward, again using his strings as a ground to slow himself down. Lina, on the other hand, cast a spell from mid air, slowing herself down to a gentle float above the ground so they could both land gracefully at the same time.

"Well, that was interesting." Lina said, glancing up at the sky, noting the portal was now gone.

"Where are we?" Brock asked looking around. They were now standing in an open field, a steep cliff on one side, a heavy forest on the other.

Kankuro walked over and looked over the edge of the cliff, a smile spreading across his face.

"What is it?" Lina asked.

"We're in Konoha!" Kankuro answered, overjoyed.


End file.
